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2014 Fall One Room Challenge || Final Week

11.05.2014

Thank you for coming to see my completed entrance hall. I redesigned our very tired and lifeless entry for The One Room Challenge. You can catch up and see "before" shots here. It's been so much fun working with this space, and I'm thrilled with the results. How exciting to get to share it with you today!

Above and below is the view from the front door.

These are the beyond breathtaking panels that Christina Baker painted for the entry. I'm not sure if from the photos you can get a true understanding of the impact these panels create. In person they're even more beautiful, and I'm wanting to spend lots of time on the settee enjoying the view. Christina was absolutely lovely to work with. Besides these to-die-for paintings I get to enjoy everyday, it was fantastic getting to know and work with her. Her work is available at Gregg Irby Fine Art, and also can be seen on her site.

And, here is the spectacular lantern Coleen Rider, of Coleen and Company, custom designed for my entry. As of today, it's available on her site. I'm still pinching myself that this even happened. Coleen's spontaneity in taking this on was impressive, and I'm grateful she did! I gave her the dimensions of the entry, and she created a drop dead gorgeous piece that's the perfect scale for the space. This new lantern has elevated my entry so very much. Could it possibly be more perfect for me?

All of the Coleen and Company lighting is handmade by metal artisans in Los Angeles, and this image shows the handmade quality. Can you believe those bells?!

Another piece that adds much to the entry is this semi-antique Persian Kerman rug I found on eBay. Purchasing a rug on eBay was a tad bit stressful, but I'm so happy I took the chance. The colors and size are a perfect fit.

This image is from my dining room looking through the entry into the living room. I asked Laura Row to create the two peony watercolors you see at the base of the stairs. What I love is that they're botanicals, but the crop makes them more graphic and interesting. Basically, they're a fresh update to a classic look I've always loved. And peonies. That, too.

Didn't she do an amazing job? The colors flow seamlessly with Christina's paintings, and provide the perfect foil to the abstract panels.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned that I found the settee at a local consignment store and had it lacquered and reupholstered. The sconce is one of a pair my mother loaned me. I'm happy to have it in my possession for the time being.

The landing looked empty, and it was easy to find just the thing. You can never go wrong with a ginger jar, can you?

I like at least one green plant in every room. If you look through the entry into the family room, you'll see another. This one warms and softens the space.

The look and feel of our entry is now entirely different. It makes me so happy to walk through this space, and the other members of the family love it as well. This was the 6th ORC in which I've participated, and it was by far the hardest. You can't tell by looking, but much more time, thought, and effort went into this one. If you have any experience, you know that "less" is often times harder to pull off than "more." This was my first experience with this level of "less," and I learned so much through the process. Now that the entry is finished, I wish I'd done it a long time ago. Thank goodness Linda, of Calling it Home, created this One Room Challenge event. If it weren't for the fun of ORC, I doubt if I'd be motivated to find the time to change anything around our house!

I very much appreciate everyone who worked with me on this project. Their links are below.

87 comments
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Your entry is to die for! I just love the paintings, and the settee! What a difference casing around the doors make. We do not have casing on any of the entries from room to room, only around the bedrooms and closets and I am seriously thinking of changing that! Great inspiration from you as always!

It is so open, airy, and light! Your color palate was spot on and the lantern is just incredible. It is hard getting a narrow entryway that opens right onto a staircase to seem so open and bright, but you were 100% successful! East Meets South

Love it love it! So refreshing to see a bright, ab=nd bold yet traditional space. From the rug to the setts to the artworks, this space if lovely. Then there is that amazing light fixture, oh my! Congrats and a fab space!

Jennifer that chandelier is stunning and so unique, the perfect statement piece when you walk into your home! Your eye then immediately goes to those beautiful floor length paintings. Of course I love your color choice of blue and white and that settee is gorgeous and so inviting I want to sit down right now. Can't go wrong with peonies and ties the room together with the rug. The ginger jar is your signature touch and the plants give a natural flow from one room to the next. Always stunning to see your work, BRAVO!

Jennifer, this entry is drop-dead gorgeous!! Every piece is a stunner...that lantern, the settee, the rug and of course the amazing artwork! But its the restraint with the wall color and lack of chotchkies (don't get me wrong, i love me some chotchkies...but not here) that help this room sing! Bravo and enjoy!!!

I have been dying to see this reveal!! I absolutely love every inch of your entry. The paintings, the velvet settee, the light fixture… incredible! This is my favorite color combo… blue and white, pink and turquoise. Gorgeous!! Enjoy it!

Blown away. That pagoda lantern is just beyond beyond beyond fabulous and when paired with all the other gorgeous pieces this entry comes together beautifully. The artwork!!!!! And the rug!!! The settee!!! The everything!!! Brava, my friend.

Well this room is too good to be real! I love everything about it. especially love the space. not too crowded...airy. The paintings from both artists are wonderful and perfect. The killer is the lantern. Well done! Bravo!

What a beautiful entry! I love how bright and crisp it is. The paintings by Christina are show stoppers for sure and that lantern!! Truly spectacular! It has such a presence and the details are astounding. I will have this on my mind for months and months. I'm completely obsessed with it. The water colors are so pretty and of course that settee just stole my heart. Congratulations. This entry is spectacular!!

Jennifer, you could not have put together a more beautiful room. Each and every single element has played an equally important role. I have had more fun working with you on this project than I can stand and am beyond proud to have been a part of all of this. Congratulations on an absolutely incredible room!

Jennifer, YOUR home just makes me smile. Love the colors and all the special touches. YOU are so right that lantern took your design over the top, and so did the rug. To be honest it all takes your entry over the top. YOUR home is a happy place to visit, I am just sure of it!!!!Great JOB!!Kathysue

Such a pretty transformation, Jennifer! I really adore the color you chose for the settee - such an elegant little spot and it goes great with the trio of paintings across from it! You're inspiring me to get some green plants into my life…but I fear that I don't have the same skills as you do for keeping them alive, ha! Congrats on a lovely job!xxMolly

wow. stunning. those panels are just so gorgeous. love christina's work. and that settee! beautiful. i didn't know you lived in dallas. i'm just north of the city. i've been to again and again...it's a fun place. pam

Love the lantern and all of the lovely collaboration that went into your ORC. Your husband sounds like mine. He is shocked! shocked! I say that I know my MasterCard number! Practice. Practice. Practice. Love the new white paint!

Don't get me wrong....the whole room is stunning but damn Christina's paintings just take it to a whole other level! They are perfectly stunning and I am a tad bit jealous that you have not one but 3!!! Way to kill it girl. I bet you just keep coming into your foyer and smiling:)

You knocked it out of the park! This is one of my favourite ORC spaces. That lantern and those bells - it's the most beautiful light fixture ever. Plus the art, the settee...everything is just perfect!

I would still be pinching myself over that lantern! What an amazing story, and entrance. Are you sitting on that settee right now, looking at Christina's paintings? I would be. Can I also say that I have Ebay envy. That rug!! This is so lovely and flows beautifully from the other rooms in your home. Great job.

There aren't possibly enough exclamation marks to express my love for your lantern. It is perfection. I'm obsessed. THe bells?? I can't even. So cute.Also the paintings= yes!!! Need that in my clients house now.Amazing job. You are so right about less being harder sometimes. I think foyers are hard rooms.Enjoy it!

Working my way through all the reveals and I'm so glad to take in all the beauty here! I would recognize this space as yours anywhere. Your signature soft color palette, pink accents, classic design elements and stellar use of chinoiserie. Just stunning, Jennifer. That lantern is the BEST and I'm just crazy of that settee! Well done - again!!

FINALLY getting to see this in all of its glory. I am absolutely smitten with the simplicity - not an easy feat! Everything about this is so fresh and inviting. You nailed it on every last detail. Congrats! Can't believe this is #6!! You must be an adrenaline junkie :) oxox

Oh wow! It's so light and bright. I love the lantern, and the art is so pretty. Your choices are spot on. My foyer is still a work in progress so I'm living vicariously through you. Congrats, yours is gorgeous.

I genuinely don't think I've ever seen an entryway that I love more - it's just absolutely stunning. Every detail is perfect, the artwork, the settee, the lantern - my goodness I can just look at this all day! Wow, what a fabulous job! Perfection xxx

That is the most beautiful foyer I have ever seen in my life bar none. Thank you for sharing. Every detail is so perfect I wouldn't even know where to begin but I would have to say it would be that rug and the chinoiserie lantern. Still the way it comes together makes the whole even greater than the sum of the parts, and that is saying a lot because the sum of the parts alone would be up there too. I am struggling to put together a palette for my new house and these photos have been so helpful.